Date: 2015-12-13

BY Rt. Hon. Dr. Ali Ahmad, Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly delivered at the Monthly Oyo State Council of the NUJ Public Lecture in Ibadan.

The Administration of Criminal Justice Act is a federal law of procedure, consisting of set of rules that govern proceedings of a court in criminal law suits. It comprises formal steps to be taken by parties before Court in a criminal trial. For several decades, various attempts were unsuccessfully made at reforming our criminal procedure laws, which had failed to address several debilitating factors working against the criminal justice system. In Nigeria, we used to have two different sets of criminal procedure laws as bequeathed by the colonialists: one for the north referred to as the criminal procedure code and the other for the south, dubbed the criminal procedure act. With ACJA, we have one unified procedure law for the entire country. The journey for this act formally began in 2005 when the then Hon. Attorney-general of the federation presented a draft bill that was produced by a myriad of stakeholders who had worked on it for several years.

But since 2005 when the document was submitted to the legislature in various versions, it failed to pass until January 2013 when this speaker took up the challenge and the bill was signed into law on may 13, 2015, the very day it was transmitted to Mr. President by the Clerk of the National Assembly. The Act is comprised of 494 sections of 160 pages and covers a number of issues, all relate to addressing delay in whatever manner and form from arrest to post-conviction, the cradle to grave of a criminal trial.

Having failed to see the light of the day during the fifth and sixth Assemblies, the magic this time was that the legislature worked very closely with the judiciary and the Executive on the bill. And that made the difference. From 2013 when the bill was first tabled before the House of Representatives, stakeholders at the highest levels in the three arms of government became mobilized towards its successful passage. From the erstwhile Chief Justice of the Federation, Alooma Muktar, to the then Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke Bello, SAN who promised that the then President would sign it into law, the very day it is transmitted by the National Assembly, it was clear that the Act was destined to become a law that it is today

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IMPORTANCE OF ACJA

,p>As mentioned above, ACJA came in, to cure several problems bedevilling our criminal justice sector, especially causes of delay. Before now, the life cycle of an average criminal trial is about 12years. In the celebrated cases of Hamzat Al- Mustapha and Mohammed Abacha, the trials took over 12 years, and so many cases such as Akingbola's and Dariye's.

In FRN V Dariye for example, where the. EFCC filed corruption related charges against the former Governor of Plateau State in 2007, his objection over jurisdiction took over 8 years to reach the Supreme Court in February this year and the court asked him to go back and face trial at the lower court. Eight years for charges to be read and today we are still counting.

When fully implemented and operational, ACJA should have effect of reducing trial to not more than 6 months no doubt, the former. Chief Justice. Of Nigeria dubbed it a revolutionary law. In order that we are all apprised of ACJA, permit me to share with you some features: It address the issue of delay through the following mechanisms

* Restrictions on stay of proceedings (I.e. Where there is appeal on an issue, stay of proceedings will no longer be granted).

* Day-to-day trial after arraignment

* Restriction on number and interval of adjournments (only 5 adjournment and 14 days in between).

* In applicability of trial de novo where the matter has been partly heard

* Clear procedures for regulating plea bargaining and measures to prevent abuse. The Act also addresses other pre-trial causes of delay arising in prison congestion through the following measures:

* Proper documentation and establishment of a central criminal records registry at the states and federal levels.

* Accountability mechanisms for Awaiting Trail Persons.

* Mandatory monthly prison visit by chief Magistrates.

* Alternatives to imprisonment such as community service, parole etc.

So ACJA is the law Nigeria needs now not only to fight corruption but also to show to the world that our criminal justice system-wide confidence that is necessary to attract foreign investment.

p>You may want to ask why this discussion of ours places emphasis on implementation of the Act. The simple answer is that the Act is not totally a self-operation law; someone or some authorities must deliberately take certain actions to achieve its objectives. That person is the Hon. Attorney-General of the federation. And as the maiden Attorney-General since the enactment of the law, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN has enormous responsibilities on whether the Act achieves its potential early enough or not.

Although the Act general applies to all criminal traits in federal courts, its effect today is more promising on the war on corruption, where our laws have always fell flat for long time. How do we deploy ACJA to fight corruption one, by ensuring the probability of conviction in a short time and secondly, by ensuring sanctity of permanent criminal record against the convict. Studies have shown that these two have had phenomenal effect on the rate of crime, and this includes corruption and financial crimes. Thus I am so positive that the rate of corruption in Nigeria will reduce drastically if average corruption trials are concluded in a maximum of six months and if all convicts have their biometrics in a national central database in Abuja. Politicians and top civil servants who supposedly have their names to protect will be less likely to be involved in embezzlement if they know. That one's apprehended, their fate is sealed within six months and they will have permanent criminal record.

By issuing practice directions to ensure that corruption cases are accorded expedited treatment by all courts and judges, the judiciary (through various heads of courts) has shown its readiness to fight corruption. And by enacting the ACJA, the legislature has done its bit in the war against corruption. Nigerians are now waiting for the Executive to animate its political will to fight corruption with action by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation to do the needful as contained in ACJA.

Speeches and cases-by case intervention as we are now witnessing will not do. To leave no one in doubt, he must now take actions to complement the resolve of the Legislature and the Judiciary. These actions, provided by ACJA, include inauguration of the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee, establishment of Central Criminal Records Registry, provision of funding for witnesses fees, and various issues relating to alternate to custodial sentences.

ROLE OF MEDIA

Recently due to the controversy generated by ACJA, and as the sponsor of the Act, I was denunciated for contributing to the facilitating of the trial of some politically exposed persons through the use of ACJA. If the law was not sponsored, there would have been valid appeals and there would not be any controversy about staying the proceedings at the lower courts.

The political environment in which we live, the arguments goes, is not given to be fair and unbiased operation of the law by Nigerian operators. They cited many corruption cases that have lasted several years in the same court or by the same prosecutors and that similar enthusiasm is not being equally shown in those cases. I told those accusing me that our country will never progress if we let the thought of abusers and bad operators dissuade us from doing our own part.

I told them that rather than back down, the proper thing to do was to forge ahead to ensure that state-level jurisdictions across the country also passes the law like their federal counterpart. And that is exactly what this speaker did.

Thus, last week almost all 36 states Houses of Assembly Speakers converged in Ilorin and adopted a model Administration of Criminal Justice to be considered and passed by each state within the next 6 months. So let us do our part and leave those who abuse the system to their conscience. And that is where the media, the fourth estate of the realm, comes in. I think I am not naïve in my thought that the media is equal to the task of exposing bias and malice coming from operators of our laws.

No one but an observant media can curb abuse in the system. If a prosecutor chooses to drive a corruption case with the speed of light and then proceeds at snail speed at another corruption matter, who, but members of the media can validly raise questions and draw public attention or condemnation of such bias.

If a prosecutor or an Agency like the EFCC or ICPC screams to high heavens in one court or about one particular defendant regarding quick trail as enshrined in ACJA and the same prosecutor or agency is apathetic is easy-going in another court or with respect to some other defendants. That is our expectation, that is what operates in developed systems worldwide, and that is the important role that the media has to play in ensuring implementation of the ACJA.

NOT LOSING THE CORRUPTION WAR

This now raises the issues of the success outlook of the war on corruption of the current Buhari Administration. This war on corruption, as presently being fought, may not be won, am afraid to say. Am raising the alarm so that we will all ponder to reconsider the current strategy.

I remember raising similar alarm on August 16th about the absence of. Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and the implication on the declared war against corruption. It was widely reported in the media and in a. few days later, or friend Mr Segun Adeniyi, wrote a powerful article along the same line.

I reasoned that then even if our ministers could wait, the Attorney General is only constitutionally named Minister in S. 150 of the constitution an that he alone could have been appointed while others waited. I might be proven right by the Supreme Court since at least two cases will end up there soon. The First of course is FRN vs Saraki where it is being contended that no one may prefer charges at the Tribunal where there is no sitting Attorney General of the Federation.

The second is decision of Justice Mohammed Yunusa of the Federal High Court being appealed by NDLEA where the judge held that the Agency lacked the power to freeze millions in the account of an alleged drug baron when there was no sitting Attorney General. Unless am not properly informed, the current strategy of fighting corruption seems to centre on prosecution in law courts. I hope am wrong. But if am not , a lot of people may wonder what is wrong with that strategy.

I believe Fives things are wrong with the current strategy of focusing the fight against corruption mainly in law courts; the president can do nothing with the first three but he may quickly intervene with the last two. These are:

1 -Powerful nature of the defendants and their lawyers,

2- The true nature of courts as a formal, deliberative process of facts must be proved beyond all reasonable doubts,

3-pervasive-ness of corruption in Nigeria,

4-doubtful constitution of S. 306 of ACJA, prohibiting stay of proceedings and

5-detachment of the Executive from the National Assembly.

You want to solely rely on adjudication to fight endemic corruption; after all you know that politically exposed persons are no ordinary defendants when it comes to hiring the services of defense attorneys who have clouts in and outside the court room. You want to rely on adjudication knowing full well that by their nature, our courts are accusatory; too formal, too inflexible, requiring too high standard a proof from the prosecution(beyond reasonable doubts ), and overall tilting the balance so much on the side of the accused or defendant. Nigeria is not matured yet, but hopefully in the next few decades we should begin to consider constitutional amendment to the effect that if the allegation borders on corruption, you are presumed guilty until you prove your innocence, and adjudication would still have been a good strategy where corruption was not pervasive. Sadly, in Nigeria, it is still the norm.

I do not wish to be misunderstood as saying that courts are irrelevant in the war against corruption, what am saying is that Nigerian courts are presently not suited to perform the function of a primary platform of fighting widespread corruption. Even under a fully implemented ACJA regime, how many cases can our courts handle from trial courts to the Supreme courts in four years? Well, if adjudication is the choice of the administration, certainly the Code of Conduct Tribunal cannot be the choice forum.

A Government has already lost the war against corruption if its new-found strategy is to use a three man Code of Conduct Tribunal to checkmate 469 federal legislators, 36 governors and 36 ministers and a host number of state officials and civil servants. No doubt, the Tribunal cannot but be selective in choosing the cases it adjudicates upon as we are presently witnessing.

But in being selective, we have compromised and tainted the very essence of the fight against corruption. Even if you want to solely rely on adjudication by extending it to regular courts, you will still be missing the point if the ACJA that ensures fast tracked resolution remains unimplemented as enunciated above and its doubtful constitutional veracity still looms large. This is where the action of Mr. President is required. It was an opportunity missed when Mr. President could not sign that provision on constitutional amendment that would have surely saved ACJA.

I urge the National Assembly to re-enact the constitutional amendment of S. 241 passed by the 7th Assembly in order to make delay in criminal trials a thing of the past. Otherwise, S. 306 of ACJA on stay of proceedings will remain unconstitutional. Other corruption laws passed by the 7th Assembly but that remained unsigned is whistle blower protection bill, Nigerian International Financial Centre Establishment Bill, Civil forfeiture bill, Federal Audit service Commission bill.

In Contrast, the House of Representatives during the Jonathan years carried out investigations and approved a total of 560 resolutions, a quarter of that were related to corruption. that was about 140 resolutions approved by majority of the 360 members. To me, an indisputable platform of fighting corruption in a democracy such as ours should be the National Assembly; at least that is what the constitution provides.

The National Assembly is empowered in S.88 of the constitution to direct or cause to be directed investigation of any person or authority with the aim of exposing corruption. Thus, is the constitutional duty of each chamber of the National Assembly to expose corruption.

You could accuse the National Assembly of anything but certainly not that it is failing in this specific duty. The missing link during the Jonathan years was lack of political will. Currently, the political will to fight corruption is quite visible. On its part, the National Assembly is always willing , but what is missing now, unlike the Jonathan years, is perceived lack of amity between the Executive and the Legislature.

How do you win the war against corruption despite abundant political will if the legislature, which is constitutionally empowered to expose corruption,believes it is kept at arms length? I think a robust strategy for an administration that has only four years and that seeks to attract corruption frontally will be to support the legislature in exposing corruption, support the media in monitoring the process and mobilising the citizens accordingly. The Executive will then implement the legislative recommendation as it deems fit, and then the few that so deserve are now tuned over for adjudication. This is my thesis on the current fight against corruption and how ACJA can be formidable tool in that regard.

I salute you all as your choice of theme and presence here today is a testimony of the concern that you have of freeing our country from the tight grip of corrupt officials as well as from the tight grip of false crusaders of the war on corruption. Thank you for listening.

Hon. Dr. Ali Ahmad, Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly delivered at the Monthly Oyo State Council of the NUJ Public Lecture in Ibadan